The Advertisers Business Group's (Gulf Cooperation Council) new Board of Directors reports on key initiatives

The new ABG Board members have been officially announced on July 20th, 2011 with the nomination of the Chairman, Mr. Fadi Ghosn (see picture), the Vice Chairman, Mr. Raef Labaki, and members of the board, Mr. Ghayath Sioufi, Mr. Vincenzo Ventricelli, Mr. Chris Saldanha, Mr. Rami Damanhouri, Mr. David Porter. The new Board of Directors gave an update on key initiatives for the upcoming period. It also focused on strategic priorities going forward as the ABG continues to take the lead in setting global best practice standards in media, advertising and marketing in the region.

ABG Chairman, Fadi Ghosn, outlined the progress made on television viewing People Meter projects in both Saudi Arabia and the UAE and confirmed the continuous dialogue between both parties, where the ABG has played a key role in establishing the structure needed for their implementation. "We know that credibility lies with transparency, leading to better measurement of media ROI”, said Mr Ghosn. The developments will be led by ABG Board members Rami Damanhouri in KSA and David Porter in UAE respectively. Regarding the interim Saudi Arabian TV audience research proposed by leading MBUs, the ABG will play an advisory role while closely monitoring its development. "We are keeping a neutral voice until the first results of the project are released. We hope that we can then validate MBU claims and endorse their findings" said Mr. Ghosn.

Alongside these initiatives, Mr. Ghosn outlined the progress achieved in the projects launched during the previous year to improve the regulation and measurement of outdoor advertising and to develop an advertising Code of Conduct for the region. The Code focuses on advertising to children and the tobacco advertising guidelines adopted by international organizations. The ABG also reviewed the principal methods of online measurement.